Man Charged With Assaulting Woman In Yellowstone Bathroom

Authorities have detained a man accused of waiting in a women's restroom in the Mammoth Hot Springs area of Yellowstone National Park and assaulting a woman there, according to federal court records.

Jackson Coombs was charged with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon last week, and was ordered detained after he waived his preliminary hearing in federal court in Mammoth on Tuesday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Carman noted Coombs is charged with a violent crime, and there are no guarantees he will not be a danger to the community or that he is not a flight risk. Carman added Coombs may face a lengthy prison sentence, he has a history of violence and substance abuse, he lacks stable employment and a stable residence, and a history of failing to appear for court dates.

The case started July 18 when a ranger was called to the Mammoth Xanterra cabins for a report of a sexual assault in progress. On his way there, the ranger heard about an assault between two men. By the time he arrived, Coombs was in custody.

Coombs said his face was burning, possibly because exposure to bear spray. An emergency management crew began to decontaminate him.

The ranger interviewed two men who held Coombs on the floor until law enforcement arrived.

One man said he was the boyfriend of the victim of the alleged assault. They were staying in a nearby cabin, and they walked to the community restroom. When he was exiting the men's room he heard a cry for help from the women's room, knocked on the door asking if someone needed help, pushed the door open, and saw a pair legs sticking out from the far stall.

He went to that stall and saw Coombs "with long bleach blonde hair, assaulting his girlfriend."

Coombs then turned around and began striking the boyfriend and biting him twice on the lower right forearm and on the upper left side of his chest. Coombs also pulled out bear spray and tried to spray the boyfriend with it, but the boyfriend slapped it away.

The boyfriend told his girlfriend to get out of the bathroom and call for help. When she went outside, she found a bystander who offered to help. That man went inside and helped the boyfriend keep Coombs on the ground.

In her account of the incident, the girlfriend told the ranger she entered the bathroom, saw an individual behind the door of one stall with toes pointed toward the wall and not the stall door.

She went to the far stall and as she was about to exit, Coombs began to pound on the door, broke in wearing toilet paper around his face, and began to attack her and spray her with bear spray. She began to crawl under the partition to the next stall when her boyfriend entered.

The ranger noted Coombs had multiple large metal rings on both his forefingers and middle fingers.

The alleged victim, a medical doctor, later noticed she had significant bruising, swelling and cuts on her head and face, and felt symptoms of a concussion.

The boyfriend reported his pinkie finger was bent awkwardly and he could not bend it. He also showed signs of bite marks, according to the affidavit.